Black Oxen [Paperback]

Gertrude Atherton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 23, 2005

1923. Atherton, was an American Feminist and writer of social and historical fiction, much of it set in California. Although her reputation is founded primarily on her California fiction and essays, as well her biography of Alexander Hamilton, Atherton also produced a number of Gothic stories, some of them, such as The Bell in the Fog, were considered significant achievements in the Gothic/supernaturalist tradition. Black Oxen begins: Talk. Talk. Talk...Good lines and no action...said all...not even promising first act...eighth failure and season more than half over...rather be a playwright and fail than a critic compelled to listen to has-beens and would-bes trying to put over bad plays...Oh, for just one more great first-night...if there's a spirit world why don't the ghosts of dead artists get together and inhibit bad playwrights from tormenting first-nighters?...Astral board of Immortals sitting in Unconscious tweaking strings until gobbets and sclerotics become gibbering idiots every time they put pen to paper? See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Famous American author of best selling novels, Atherton wrote creatively on diverse issues relating to women, classical history and her birthplace, California. She penned 60 books and innumerable articles in her lifetime. Her first novel, The Randolphs of Redwoods, appeared in 1883. Her most renowned novels include The Californians (1898), The Conqueror (1902), The Ancestors (1907), and Black Oxen (1923); the last of these was made into a successful movie. Atherton also penned several short stories, collected in Before the Gringo Came. They were later republished under the title The Splendid Idle Forties. Her six hundred page autobiography, The Adventures of a Novelist, was published in 1932. Atherton also wrote articles, travel narratives, and scripts for films and plays. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (June 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141793400X
• ISBN-13: 978-1417934003
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,790,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Modern not, February 19, 2005

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Oxen (Unbound)

Countess Zattiany, who is 58, has a glandular operation (based on a silly popular theory of the day), the result being that she has the looks and personality of one who is 28. She falls in love with Lee Clavering, an ambitious young journalist. Even after telling him the truth about herself, he wants to marry her. But she marries an Austrian prince instead in order to pursue a diplomatic career. In the book at one point Atherton has the Countess describe the modern novel as "gloomy, pessimistic, excoriating, merciless, drab, sordid, and hideously realistic." Many of those terms describe this novel, too. Atherton was an old-fashioned novelist who thought she could be modern if she talked modern. But this book is very old-fashioned and a bit tiresome as well.